THE MOMENT
Joe had a thought. Everything suddenly felt familiar as the villain rose from his dark throne. Sure, he was confident all villain lairs had a certain generic evilness that blurred together, but it almost felt like he'd been in that particular lair before. More than once. It stood out as distinctly thrown together. The black throne was a carved mass of obsidian that looked out of place against the exposed wiring running along the industrial floor. And both felt at odds with the advanced 3D holographic gallery of eliminated Super Heroes. Super Soldier Joe only recognized them as something he'd seen before, but he did not know any of the portrayed deceased heroes. And the villain's monologue rang in his mind word for word, even as the cloaked figure spoke them with obvious conviction.
Somehow, Joe knew the solution would present itself. Maybe it was something held over from a previous loop, or some deep knowledge embedded in his soul. Were timeloops possible? He knew he lived in a world of Superhumans, and there were probably powerful ones he had no idea of. It wasn't impossible that one of them could manipulate time. Joe wondered... did his mind wander? Did the Villain reveal the secret to defeating him already?
"Well??" The Villain used both hands to gesture at the glowing red jewel in his chest.
"Oh yeah," he must've, because Super Soldier Joe remembered it, like he'd always known. He drew his pistol, but the Villain was in front of him before he could aim. He gripped Joe's hands and shoved them upward.
"Did you say 'Oh yeah??'" He asked. "What's your favorite number?"
"34!" Joe replied. Now that the Villain was face to face, he could see him for what he was. He looked like a stereotypical teenage gaming nerd, acne and all. His glowing eyes were likely contacts. How did he know that? There was certainly nothing remotely threatening about him, and he even looked friendly. "Hey, do you cosplay?" Joe asked. "I'm asking because of your cool eyes." The more he thought about it, the less Joe could remember why he was trying to stop the Villain. Were they nemeses? Why didn't Joe know his name? "I'm Joe, what's your name?"
"Ugghhhhh... AURY!!!" the villain yelled, and the name shone bright in bold glowing blue letters on the Villain's forearm, above his black power bands.
"Are you mad, Aury?" Joe asked. It wasn't the cry of an evil mastermind, but more that of an ungrateful child.
"What, okay, don't yell...," a young man with bushy dark hair emerged from a black portal that wasn't there before. He wore a white blazer and white slacks with a red tie.
"Another one!!!!" he pointed at Joe. "This is like the third one this month! What gives?"
"Yeah, I can tell you; no one cares," the newcomer shrugged as he walked over to Joe to inspect him. "The last patch surfaced some old bugs," he said. Then he met Joe's gaze with his own coffee-brown eyes and nodded. The quick motion manifested a translucent red visor between them, and it jostled his meaty cheeks. "Hi, Mr. Super, what's your favorite number?"
"34!" Joe answered again, and Aury nodded. By now, Joe realized he still didn't know his villain's name, but this man was obviously summoned with the call.
"They're working on it," he said over his shoulder to the Villain. His shoulders looked unnaturally square, and Joe looked down to see Aury's hands at waist height typing on an invisible keyboard in mid-air. He only knew it was there because the keys briefly lit up with red light after each press. "And, the company's aware it's been a big issue across the AlterNet. They're working on a new patch for the Fall, as like an apology."
"When did you first learn about your Superpowers?" Aury turned back to a confused, but complacent Joe with the question.
"That was...," he started with all the confidence of having a memory, except it was nowhere to be found. Puberty was his first guess, but he couldn't imagine it. Did his friends know he was a Super soldier? What friends did he have? He couldn't even remember the name of his school, nor what the halls looked like. "I don't...," he started to answer, but his mind lost its focus for a moment.
"What did you do to me, Villain!?" Hatred bloomed in Joe's gut; he didn't need to think. He was trapped, immobile in the vile, evil lair of his deadliest nemesis. The only thing he was unclear of was whether the handsome young man in front of him was innocent in all of this.
"What's your favorite number?" he asked.
"If this is some sort of test, I don't have time. Are you working with evil, or are you on my side?"
"I'm with you," he nodded with a smile. "I'll make sure you get a free shot; his weak spot is right on his chest," he said with a wink.
"All done!" Aury turned back and walked toward the Villain.
"So, Sharp Development's gonna apologize for a buggy patch by releasing another buggy patch?" he asked. Aury chuckled and shook his head.
"Oh, come on, we have a better track record than that. And, I don't know what you're complaining about," he said as he opened a tall black portal in the air directly in front of the Villain. "You have my private line, and you're practically playing the lottery for free." He stepped sideways into the portal while giving Super Soldier Joe a thumbs-up gesture behind his back. "You just keep playing normally, and maybe eventually you'll land yourself a Celestial Unique Soul to make us both a little bit richer," he added one more line as the portal disappeared along with him. "Oh yeah, stick out your weakness for the Hero."